Union says Valley View talks lagging

Tuesday

Dec 11, 2012 at 2:00 AM

GOSHEN — The union representing Orange County government employees said Monday that little progress was made in its first meeting with county officials to discuss concessions the union has offered to try to keep the Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation in the county's hands.

BY CHRIS MCKENNA

GOSHEN — The union representing Orange County government employees said Monday that little progress was made in its first meeting with county officials to discuss concessions the union has offered to try to keep the Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation in the county's hands.

In a press conference at the Civil Service Employees Association offices in Goshen, union President William Oliphant said most of Thursday's three-hour session was devoted to clarifying terms the union had announced last month at a news conference. The county presented no proposal of its own, and argued that pay for Valley View workers would have to be cut by 24 percent to achieve the savings the union projected, Oliphant said.

"That's absolutely absurd, and that's nothing that we would agree to," Oliphant said.

County Executive Ed Diana and other county officials were scheduled to give their own version of what happened at the negotiating session in a closed-door meeting with legislators at 4 p.m. Monday.

Both sides in the debate over Valley View's future were hoping to influence lawmakers two days before a critical decision on funding for the nursing home. Diana has been pushing the Legislature to sell Valley View and proposed cutting off county funds by Feb. 1. He has vetoed lawmakers' budget amendments intended to subsidize the home for all of 2013.

Legislators will vote Wednesday on whether to override his veto.

In a statement released after the union press conference Monday, Diana said his administration was negotiating in good faith, and he accused the union leaders of bargaining "through the media, rather than bringing substantive proposals to the table."

"Instead, they promote misinformation, half-truths, and rhetoric," he said. "To pursue negotiations in this manner is not in the best interest of the union members — our County employees — nor the taxpayers of Orange County."

Last week's contract talks came almost a month after union leaders publicly announced their offers, including their willingness to form a separate bargaining unit for Valley View employees and have them work four-day weeks and forgo retroactive raises for 2012. The next session is scheduled for Monday — after the Legislature has held its override vote.